Junk silver

[Crabby]

Does any of the forum members dabble with junk silver or is it not worth the time and trouble ?

[Bigmarc]

When it's sold on here it's snapped up pretty much straight away, minimal premium, great for playing the spot game. It's durability is great, no need to worry about gloves as it's passed many hands, no need to worry about milk spots and there his years of history that one day will die out, there is no need to worry about fakes, there are a few and almost feels like a win when you find one. Bullion dealers don't really sell them so to accumulate you have to rely on a honest peer to peer trade. 

[Crabby]

Thanks Marc 

[stackerp5]

Hi Crabby, user @sellerstacker has got some sterling silver (0.925 purity) items available. User @oldschoolsilver was selling some (0.500 purity) silver coins. I'd message them or check their listings

[Crabby]

Thanks 

[pricha]

My personal choice is .925  .  .500 is cumbersome to store and not as much interest as sterling  .  Hard to obtain other than the forum and eBay . Prices go for over spot most occasions i'd say. Interesting what you call junk . Anything remotely in decent condition sells at a premium . 

[Crabby]

Thanks not sure but it’s always called junk when I’ve read about it lol

of course it’s only a name 

 

[KevinFlynn]

I have different categories for junk silver and silver junk 😁

[Arganto]

"Junk Silver" is a term we seem to have inherited from our American cousins. Traditionally they use the term to describe used silver currency coins that are common or too worn to be of any significant numismatic interest, but there is a significant difference between the UK and the US in this regard...They had silver coinage up until 1964, .900 fineness apart from the last year where they issued .400. The last year we had .925 was 1919 and the last year we had .500 was 1946. I don't know mintage figures off hand but as the American population is larger than ours by some margin I imagine the number of circulated coins still available is vast in comparison to the UK's. American "junk" often trades for the price of silver spot in it's home country (at least it did before current 'affairs') whereas it usually commands a modest premium over here. UK silver currency is a mixed bag and cost will vary hugely dependant on the coins, the seller and the direction of the wind at the time of buying...There have been some excellent bulk deals available on UK coinage on the forum recently, worth keeping your eyes balls on the trade section!

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Liam84
Typo

[Metalisreal]

Also silver has been mined in western US states such as Nevada and Montana. Probably still is but as a byproduct of copper. Don't know if any pm's have been mined in the UK. 

[MetalMandible]

31 minutes ago, Liam84 said:

"Junk Silver" is a term we seem to have inherited from our American cousins. Traditionally they use the term to described used silver currency coins that are common or too worn to be of any significant numismatic interest, but there is a significant difference between the UK and the US in this regard...They had silver coinage up until 1964, .900 fineness apart from the last year where they issued .400. The last year we had .925 was 1919 and the last year we had .500 was 1946. I don't know mintage figures off hand but as the American population is larger than ours by some margin I imagine the number of circulated coins still available is vast in comparison to the UK's. American "junk" often trades for the price of silver spot in it's home country (at least it did before current 'affairs') whereas it usually commands a modest premium over here. UK silver currency is a mixed bag and cost will vary hugely dependant on the coins, the seller and the direction of the wind at the time of buying...There have been some excellent bulk deals available on UK coinage on the forum recently, worth keeping your eyes balls on the trade section!

 

Ah those were the days, when one could buy "Constitutional" junk silver for spot.  Oh well...

[SidS]

I accumulated a lot of US silver junk coinage in the 00s and mid-10s. But as the prices have gone up and up, I had to switch back to British. As stated above, the huge amount minted in the US and the recency of the mintings mean they were more available and cheaper than the pre-1920 stuff. Not no more sadly.

[Centauri167]

I think it is always funny/ strange to see the difference between the US and Europe regarding junk ( or constitutional ) silver. They buy it face value X a price and we buy it at weight price + premium over spott.